Press Release
Submitted by Elizabeth Wood,
Community Planner
Zoning
Amendments Proposed to Sign Ordinance and Fence Ordinance
In
an effort to educate the public on the zoning ordinance amendments that are
being recommended by the Planning Board for 2012 Town Meeting, a series of
articles will be published leading up to Town Meeting on March 13th. Each article will provide a summary of
one or more zoning amendments being proposed.
This week’s topics are: Signs & Fences
In an effort to encourage improvements to public
safety and eliminate confusion for drivers, an amendment is being proposed to
the sign ordinance. The ordinance
would allow up to eight inch (8”) high street numbers to be included on
building wall signs for identification purposes and will not count towards the
wall sign size and/or as a wall sign if placed separately on the wall of a
building. This is Amendment #7 on the ballot.
The proposed amendment to the Fence Ordinance is
aimed at the regulation of the height of fences in front, rear, and side yards
in the Residence A, B, C, Rural, Village Center District, and Historic
Districts. Currently fences are
regulated according to lot lines and there is nothing
in the ordinance to prevent a fence that is constructed 1 ft. from a lot line
from being from being eight feet (8’) tall in a residential
district. The proposal is to
replace the words “lot line” with “yard”. The resulting regulation would set the
maximum height for fences in front yards at four feet (4’) and fences in
rear yards at six feet (6’) in height. This
is Amendment #12 on the Ballot.
The exact ordinance language of the Sign Ordinance
amendment, Fence Ordinance amendment, and the language of all other Zoning
Amendments proposed for the 2012 Town Meeting can be found on the Planning
Board page of the Town website: www.windhamnewhampshire.com. The proposed amendments are also
available at the Community Development Department. If you have any questions feel free to
contact Community Development staff at 432-3806.